Black teen ‘escorted out of’ graduation for wearing African cloth
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Three deputies “escorted” a black teenager out of a Sacramento graduation when he would not remove his kente clothe, a traditional African fabric.
In a statement issued Friday, the Elk Grove Unified School District confirmed the incident took place at the Sleep Train Arena on Tuesday. The Atlanta Black Star first reported the story.
“A Cosumnes Oaks High School student was prohibited from participating in the remainder of the school’s graduation ceremony,” the statement said, “for refusing to follow direction of school officials who were attempting to uphold the established dress code and for ignoring repeated requests to remove unauthorized non-school award regalia.”
The student, Nyree Holmes, told the Black Star he wore the decorative cloth atop his graduation robes in order to wear something that represented his culture during the ceremony.
“I wanted to wear my kente cloth as a representation of my pride in my ancestors, to display my cultural and religious heritage,” he said. “My particular cloth was made by Christians in Ghana, where the kente cloth has been worn by royalty and during important ceremonies for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”
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